Montreal producers Frank Fiorito and Nabil Mehchi have opted to take the path more perilous. They could easily stay home and craft docs that wouldn’t require armed guards to protect themselves from potential sinister forces as is often the case when they leave their base here.

But that just doesn’t interest these guys. And that explains why their compelling series Interrupt This Program has earned an International Emmy Award nomination, among a host of other accolades.

Their modus operandi is fanning the globe in search of trouble spots and focusing on dissenting artists dealing with political, social and economic unrest.

There are easier ways to make a living, but the reward for this tandem is providing a voice for those others would love silenced.

In the first season, Fiorito and Mehchi headed off to Beirut, Kiev, Port-au-Prince, Medillin and Athens. They upped the ante in Season 2 in exploring protest art in such hot spots as Moscow, Jerusalem, Lagos, Havana and Manila.

Season 3, which debuts Friday at 8:30 p.m. on CBC-TV, has gone from a five-part to a six-part series and has the team plunging into such volatile hot spots as Mexico City, Nairobi, Jakarta, Karachi, Warsaw and Chicago — the first North American city to make the series, and for good reason.

This season’s opener takes place in Mexico City, and deals mainly with femicide, the disturbing and proliferating rash of female homicides. As the profiled artists point out, young women are murdered simply for refusing to pose for a picture.

As in each episode of past seasons, Fiorito and Mehchi include a Canadian artist with roots in the city they visit. In Mexico, they touch base with photojournalist François, who spends much of his time shooting mass grave sites — much to the chagrin of the powers-that-be.

In the same episode, two installation artists wrap models in frightening and constrictive plastic wrap and parade them on crowded streets of Mexico City to protest against the fact that seven women a day are killed there. Their intent is have such artistic statements displayed outdoors where all can see them, rather than in a museum.

There is a method to these protests. As one artist points out, the hope is that “lighting a candle will soon grow into a big fire.”

On Nov. 3, Interrupt This Program visits Chicago, which is no stranger to staggeringly high rates of murder. Included in these stats are a disproportionate number of kids, 13 and under.

It’s a war zone, according to The Era Footwork Crew, a cutting-edge ensemble of rappers and dancers who dazzle audiences with both their moves and their message of survival. As one of the crew puts it, they all feel fortunate just for having made it alive in Chicago into their mid-20s.

The actor/writer/producer Fawzia feels like she has “a target on my back,” because she is a gay Muslim. Nor did she endear herself to authorities when she did a mock doc, in which she played U.S. President Trump’s illegitimate Muslim daughter.

“We decided this season that we would visit places closer to home, like Chicago and Mexico City, where there are all sorts of startling stories, but where people here don’t get the full story of what’s going on,” Mehchi says. “The idea is for us to go to places where people don’t expect us necessarily to go, places which on the surface seem just fine.”

For example, this season’s final episode takes place in Warsaw, which many assume to be a relatively stable metropolis these days.

“But there has been a really scary rise of right-wing nationalism and anti-Semitism,” Mehchi says. “It’s very hard to be outspoken about this situation in Poland right now. There are more obvious conflict zones like Nairobi and Jakarta — where there has been a rise in Islamic fundamentalism. So while we wanted to go to the usual suspect sort of places this year, we also wanted to surprise viewers by going to these other places.”

Adds Fiorito: “If you want to get an idea of what Trump’s America could look like in three years, just check out what’s happening in Poland now. You really see the impact of a nationalist, populist government. The government there is controlling the media and even controlling the artists — who are being boycotted and who can’t get grants.

“The surge in anti-Semitism, considering the country’s history, is very unsettling. This is Europe 2017. This is not what we expected.”

It’s almost as if Fiorito and Mehchi have devised an anti-tourist guide with their series.

“It all starts with a small news story we have come upon and then we start digging deeper. We’ve come to the conclusion that we have to be in that city after a big shock has come or just before something major is about to happen, where we see something bubbling below the surface and ready to explode,” Mehchi says.

This was the situation when they hit Nairobi, just prior to the country’s recent elections. They were told by artists that the same issues that surfaced in 2008 — alleged rigged elections and subsequent mass protests and violence — would likely re-surface.

And sure enough …

Nor was Karachi entirely bereft of intrigue.

“We could feel the tension and we needed security with us,” Fiorito says. “But all the same there is a huge discrepancy between the danger that you read about in the news here and the attitudes of many people in the street that you meet. People were so nice, stopping us in the street and thanking us for filming in the city.

“To be honest, this season we were more nervous for the artists we profiled than ever before. We were very careful about never showing where they lived, because as one of the artists told us, ‘they will find us and they will deal with us.’ ”

“We go to great lengths to take precautions for our crew and have security when need be. And we do take calculated risks,” Mehchi says. “But it’s the artists who take the real risks here and show tremendous courage. We leave, but they stay to continue their fight.”

AT A GLANCE

Season 3 of Interrupt This Program debuts Friday at 8:30 p.m. on CBC-TV.

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.